The number of independent professionals — be they contractors or freelancers — is certainly on the rise in recent years, with more and more people declaring themselves self-employed. But is there a gender divide when it comes to contracting and, if so, why might that be?

As we recently reported, there is a growing number of women taking to freelancing, with roughly 40% of freelancers identifying as female. Contracting is a slightly different story, however. Figures from across different sectors back in 2014, including IT and financial services, suggest around one in five contractors were women. Although we know numbers have grown in the last couple of years, they are not growing at the same pace as female freelancers — something we at Kingsbridge can attest to.

So why are women favouring freelancing over contracting? This could be down to a couple of reasons that perhaps demonstrate more ingrained gender divides across UK employment in general.

Between bitter leadership contests, attempted coups, police shootings, and a series of appalling terrorist attacks it’s no surprise that some things get lost in the news cycle of today. As such, you could be forgiven for missing the currentupheaval surrounding the so-called ‘Sharing Economy’ and the brewing media-storm around the rights of those who choose to work within its borders.

It used to be the case that once you’d found the right person for a position then your duty as a recruiter was complete. You and your end client would move onto fulfilling the next role, but as terms become more and more onerous in the contract space there’s a few important points regarding insurance that you need to be aware of.